This past week was my fourth full week on the medical/surgical floors, and while four west is still my primary unit, I had a unique opportunity to attend a school re-entry with the hem/onc child life specialist, Taryn, and the hem/onc art therapist, Emily. The school re-entry was for a 12-year-old male, who has recently finished treatment at Norton Children’s Hospital for Burkitt’s Lymphoma. This particular school re-entry was on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, and included a presentation and art activity with 130 seventh and eighth graders at a Catholic school in a higher socioeconomic status area of Louisville, Kentucky. For this program, I mainly observed and helped to pass out/complete/clean up the art activity, but I thought that this …show more content…
Taryn mentioned that she has a template for school re-entry presentations and that she edits them to be developmentally appropriate and informative. My coordinator asked me what I would personally consider when editing the template and I said the group's developmental age range and they’re previous knowledge of the patient’s cancer (i.e., has the school educated on this type of cancer already, what they’ve learned in their science courses, etc.). Taryn and I discussed the theoretical foundations of child life in this intervention decision making through Piaget’s Cognitive Stages of Development and Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development. For example, the classmates are in Piaget’s concrete operational and formal operational stages of cognitive development, where some of the students are able to think abstractly but the majority still require concrete language and concrete examples. This was evident in some of the questions the students asked regarding Burkitt’s Lymphoma that were a bit abstract and Taryn was able to provide more concrete examples to help explain her answers to the entire group. Additionally, the students are in Erikson’s industry v. inferiority and identity v. role confusion stages of psychosocial development, where they are developing a sense of right or wrong, finding pride in social interactions/accomplishments, and are exploring their self-identities. This was evidenced by other questions following the presentation such as what is safe to do with the patient (no sports), will his hair grow back (self-identity), and questions about the Lego kits the patient completed (social interactions/accomplishments). If I were to do this school re-entry for this age group, I wouldn’t have changed a thing—Taryn covered all of her bases. Taryn told me that after about the second school re-entry you get
While there are many small happenings throughout the year, the main focus is on “The Big Event”. This is a 12-hour long dance marathon where dancers who have spent the year raising money for the cause dance their hearts out, get to meet the children part of the Children’s Miracle network and their families, and have opportunities to continue giving (whether through signing up to donate bone marrow or having hair cut for Locks of Love). During this big party, attendees are not allowed to sit/lay down or have any caffeine. This is to try and replicate a tiny bit of how the kiddos feel on a daily basis, having to go through treatments and long hospital stays while still trying to keep their spirits up. Throughout the 12 hours, families are invited to take the stage and tell the story of their experiences with Universi...
At thirteen I left my home in sunny Miami, Florida to attend a boarding school in snowy Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During those four years I learned to be independent, and to work effectively with my peers. One year, a group of students and I began to visit patients every
This essay will explore the authors meaning of reflection, how various reflective styles can benefit the practitioners within their settings, and how important reflection is within Early Years Practice. According to Appleby (2010, p.10), reflection is a generic term which describes various behaviours involving feelings, and thinking about thoughts and experiences, in order to examine issues and develop, new understandings and insights. Reflection within practice allows the practitioner to develop a sense of awareness around their daily activities, and helps them to evaluate how they could evolve these activities further, if the given opportunity was to arise again. Similarly, keeping a reflective journal
Clatworthy S, Simon K, Tiedeman M. Child Drawing: Hospital- an instrument designed to measure the emotional status of hospitalized school children. J Pediatr Nurs 1999; 14: 2-8.
The summer after my freshman year in college, I went back to Honduras to volunteer with the children who had leukemia at the National Public Hospital. I have never been as intimidated as my first day, when I followed the attending oncologist, while he was showing me the pediatric unit. He also explained my duties, which were attending and playing with the children. When I was left to start my job, I felt almost as nuisance in the midst of that hectic hospital room. Unsure on how to approach the patients, I looked around and found a tender smiling face. Although I was nervous, the warmth of his expression gave me the confidence to walk towards his bed. After a long and pleasant talk, I learned that Diego was from a remote rural town, and that his father visited him three days a week because he had to work to support his family. Diego suffered from a severe form of leukemia and had been hospitalized for nine months. Due to his poor health, he was unable to walk or even sit up in his bed. Hence, he developed atrophy in his legs causing them to lose strength and mobility. Yet with a huge sparkle in his eyes, Diego shared with me his dreams of becoming a great soccer player. As I turned away to retrieve the board games that he requested, I was moved by his courage to dream despite the hardships he was enduring at such a young age. This encounter was the beginning of an important turning point in my life. What initially began as a job became a real duty for me. I felt compelled and obligated to the children whom I interacted with, gaining satisfaction in doing so. At first, it seemed I was doing them a favor but rather it was the children that made an impact in my life. After I left Diego’s bedside that day, I was heartbroken to see h...
An example of an art therapy program is the Rialto Jean Project. The project uses the Rialto Jean denim line and A-list actors and actresses who are part of the companies fan base. Each pair of jeans has a different design and is uniquely made (See addendum). The project involves working with children from the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. The Rialto Jean Project believes the theory that art “can help young patients find a sense of hope and increase self esteem, autonomy and competence, while offering opportunities to express their feelings safely while providing a solid foundation for healing” (“Giving Back”). The art therapy program at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was started in 1991 by Mark Taper and the Jonny Mercer Artists Program. The Jonny Mercer Artists Program made the effort to incorporate visual arts, music, dance and expressive art therapy to a pediatric medical setting. This form of therapy helps patients express their thoughts about their illness and has played a role in helping alleviat...
At age ten, I left everything behind in China to start a new life with my parents in United States. It was not long before I realized that I was, in many ways, different from all the other kids in school. Gradually, I became less confident and more isolated. One day in the schoolyard, while I was playing hopscotch alone, a girl named Becca walked up to me and asked if she could join in. Although we had difficulty understanding one another's speech, we had no problem communicating through gestures and expressions. We soon realized that we had different ways of playing hopscotch. I watched her way and she watched mine; presently we came up with a brand new version of the game. Others soon joined us, and I found myself playing and laughing with kids whom I had thought I had nothing in common with. I have learned so much from Becca, but most of all I learned to not be afraid to build relationships with people who differ from me. Over the years, I have tried to live by this rule, and, as a result, have enjoyed many memorable and enriching relationships which have contributed to my desire to work with others in the practice of medicine.
Art can benefit the unhealthy as well. With 34,000 soldiers coming back from Afghanistan as proposed by Barack Obama, there are many who consequently have mental disabilities or post-traumatic stress disorder. To cope with depression, or other symptoms, many doctors have used art programs...
I am respectfully writing a request of waiver of Rule G(1) of the student handbook, requiring students to maintain a 2.0 GPA to remain enrolled. During the Fall 2016 semester I failed one course, causing me not to earn the 2.0 GPA required to remain a student at Florida Coastal School of Law. Though I had a bumpy start at Florida Coastal, not doing as well as I hoped my first semester, I was proud of my improvement of my GPA during the summer. Fall for me was not as successful of a semester, I had several personal issues that affected my performance, including the death of my maternal grandmother and unforeseen health issues. I am not making excuses for my poor performance this semester, however, these are outside factors I would like to
Fifteen years after graduating high school, returning to school was a challenge, because of the Prerequisites, CPD class, and Math. First, arranging an appointment to speak to Admissions and Records to register for classes was a journey. The enrollment center crowded with students, people walking everywhere, and the wait time felt like years. Then, the process to fill out a Financial Aid application was exhausting; I had to provide my personal information, including income taxes. So far, the enrollment was working fine, but when the Financial Aid representative named Mary questioned me for a major, I freeze! And Mary kept staring at me, waiting for my response, my face was as red as a tomato for not knowing what to respond,
Looking back over the course of the semester, I feel that I learned many new and interesting uses for technology within the classroom – both for classrooms that have a lot of technology and for classrooms that are limited with technology. For the majority of the class, we utilized William Kists’ book The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age (2010), which provided multiple modes of instruction that both utilized and/or created technology. One of the first things that I remember, and consequently that stuck with me through the course’s entirety, is that individuals must treat everything as a text. Even a garden is a text. The statement made me change the way that I traditionally viewed Language Arts both as a student and as a teacher, as I very narrowly saw literature and works of the like as texts only; however, by considering nearly anything as a text, one can analyze, study, and even expand his/her knowledge. Kist (2010) states that society is “experiencing a vast transformation of the way we “read” and “write,” and a broadening of the way we conceptualize “literacy” (p. 2). In order to begin to experience and learn with the modern classroom and technologically advanced students, individuals must begin to see new things as literature and analyze those things in a similar manner.
This was an existential experience that brought joy to children’s lives while receiving chemotherapy, as well as gave the parents some free time. Even though this experience greatly benefits the children fighting cancer, their sibling and parents, I can safely say that the children I met at Sunrise Day Camp and Long Island Jewish Cohens Children’s Hospital inspired me and continue to be my role models. In addition, through my experience volunteering for three years with Sunrise Association, I realized that I am benevolent and sensitive toward children and adolescents who are given a life that they do not deserve. I know that the characteristics I possess have confirmed that I am capable of fulfilling my dream and goals in the future. These many experiences opened my eyes to a whole new perspective on life and ignited my interest in the field of
Volunteering at the Child Life Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital, one of our patients was a seven-year old girl, who spent more than four months in an oncology unit. She was so frus-trated and depressed. She wouldn’t even look at me when I first met her. That was quite disap-pointing, but I knew that there must be a way of communication with her. I patiently offered her multiple amusement options while smiling. Finally, after a whole month, she changed and became more and more motivated and interested in playing, painting and having fun, which was a big surprise for everyone. This experience reminded my grandmother while she was suf-fering from breast cancer and we were trying to cheer her up, yet she wasn’t interested in any activities at all. It was then that I became inspired and determined to pursuing a career in medi-cine because it allowed me to bring together
It has been a while since I started at the internship and I am really glad I decided to work here. I think the experience in this area is a good preview of my career and future. I am learning some important skills and finding out some things about myself and the tough skin I will need in order to stay in the area of juvenile support.
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.